By February 1844, the
South Eastern Railway had began running train services between London Bridge and
Dover, via Redhill and Tonbridge. Parliament had decreed that the company had to
share the lines of the London & Brighton and London & Croydon Railways to reach
the London terminus, this of which sparked many a dispute over running powers.
Having been compelled to take a Weald of Kent route for the main Dover trunk
route, and deciding not to extend the 1849-opened North Kent Line eastwards over
the Medway to Chatham, Gillingham and ultimately, Faversham, another separate
concern known as the ''East Kent Railway'' was formed. This independent company
was established to promote the railway interests of Faversham, by providing the
growing town with a railway connection to London. By 1860, this had been
achieved and the company (now the LC&DR) was
becoming an increasing threat to SER traffic. By July 1861, the LC&DR had
reached Dover by a decidedly shorter trunk route from London, via Faversham. In
response to this, the SER decreed that it had to shorten its London to Dover
line to fight off the competition and, on 30th June 1862, the company was
authorised to build a new cut-off line from North Kent Junction (where the North
Kent Line leaves the original London & Greenwich route) to Tonbridge, via
Sevenoaks. This would reduce the London to Dover journey distance by a crucial 12½ miles.
Chislehurst was reached on 1st July 1865, followed by Tonbridge on 1st May 1868.

Come the late 1850s, the
North Kent Line was suffering from serious cases of congestion and the SER
decided upon constructing a second line between Dartford and London. This was to
be routed via Sidcup and join the existing cut-off line from North Kent Junction
to Tonbridge, at Hither Green. Opening of the line, dubbed the ''Dartford Loop
Line'' came on 1st September 1866,
providing a more direct route to the capital. A station was not built at this
point of convergence until after the opening of yet a third North Kent route
between Dartford and the capital, this time routed through Bexleyheath, although
the line had no direct physical connection with either the Dartford Loop or Tonbridge
cut-off lines. The Bexleyheath line saw its first passenger services commence on
1st May 1895 and exactly one month later to the day, a station at Hither Green
was opened, serving both the suburban Dartford Loop Line and the main line via Tonbridge.

The 1895 station
comprised four platform faces, two on the curve of the Dartford Loop Line and
another two serving the Tonbridge cut-off line. By this time the SER was in full
swing of providing ''economical'' stations, but the main station building to the
north of the suburban platforms was actually a single-storey brick-built affair,
as was the Station Master's nearby house. The former was based on the attractive
red brick design which had first been introduced by the SER (implemented by this
company at Ashford and Shorncliffe, to name but two), and subsequently
perpetuated by the SE&CR, the design appearing at Waterloo Junction and
Chislehurst. Just before the 1899 amalgamation,
more station buildings were erected to the south of the main line platforms,
again of brick construction (to the same design), but with clapboard extensions. Excepting the
aforementioned entrances, the whole station was rebuilt in conjunction with the
St Johns to Elmstead Woods quadrupling of 1905, these lines coming into service
on 18th June of that year. Hither Green now featured six platform faces, two of
which were situated on an island: the main line platforms were linked by
a subway, but interestingly, those suburban platforms for the Dartford Loop Line
were linked by a covered lattice footbridge. A novelty of the suburban side was
the inclusion of a third ''through'' track, but since most services stopped here
and freight along this particular curve was light, it was little used by traffic
and until its removal by the Southern Railway in 1937, was used more often than
not to stable rolling stock. By Nationalisation a footbridge had been provided
at the southern extremities of the main line platforms as an alternative to the
subway; the suburban lines still retained the original covered lattice
structure. Electric multiple units had been serving the station since 28th
February 1926, when third rail was installed between the ex-SER London termini
and Orpington as part of the Southern Railway's scheme to electrify those
suburban lines of the former SE&CR. This was followed on 19th June 1926 by the
commencement of electric services to Dartford via all three North Kent routes.

The first signs of
change under British Railways came in Spring 1955, with the lengthening of the
Dartford Loop Line platforms at their eastern ends with prefabricated concrete.
This was undertaken in connection with the commencement of ten-car EMU
formations, the first scheduled rush-hour trains of this length beginning on
13th June of that year. Concurrent with this, the northern platform of the
''main line'' station saw its canopy totally rebuilt in metal and asbestos.
Then, in 1962, the removal of semaphore signals and the installation of
four-aspect colour lights took place, in preparation for the electrification
beyond Sevenoaks to Tonbridge, Ashford, and Dover. Mechanical signal boxes ''A''
and ''B'' - both of all-timber construction and of SER design - were also decommissioned
as part of the re-signalling programme, and a new ''power box''
was subsequently built between the running lines and Hither Green Depot's entry roads,
this coming
into service on 4th February 1962. Then, in the early 1970s, an extensive
station rebuilding programme began, which saw the ''main line'' canopies cut
back by over half their length, and even then the remaining sections were
rebuilt with new valances. A new footbridge was provided between these platforms
at the London end of the layout, that at the south subsequently going out of
use, but the original subway remained open. The canopies of the Dartford
platforms were also totally obliterated, but the distinctive covered lattice
footbridge remained, this now existing as the oldest structure on the site. Station rebuilding
was completed in 1974, the northern station entrance having now been demolished,
along with the Station Master's house, and that at the south totally rebuilt.
Apart from the replacement of asbestos cladding with corrugated metal in 2003,
little has changed at this station since the rebuilding.

The track layout as of 1960; click to enlarge. Scale is approximate. Drawn by
David Glasspool